Sunday, December 19, 2010

Shellye Sparks wrote to Sherry Sparks (David's mom) on facebook this morning: "is sad because you "like" that your son and I are single on fb. After twenty-five years of commitment, dedication, and faithfulness to David I would hope you and your son would be brokenhearted to see this relationship over. It definitely isn't God's best for our lives, but I know I have the only Biblical reason for it. My prayer is that God will turn all of our hearts to Him with 100% devotion as well as have our priorities in order according to God's standards. I'm also hoping and praying that you will be one of the people in David's life to help him see God's will for his life to set his feet on the straight and narrow path that God has for each of us."

Carol McCarty (Shellye's mom) said "Well said!!"

David responded "I believe we need to stop sharing our troubles with the world. But since you brought it up, let's speak the truth for a minute. Lets remind everyone that I also gave you many years of devotion and commitment and I helped raised two beautiful children. Lets also remind everyone that I went to four counselors for over a year with you & I tried numerous times to help you see my side as well. Lets also remind everyone that we are both Christians who are seeking God's will and that only God knows our hearts we cannot judge the thoughts or intents of any heart, so we need to stop trying. Right now all we both have to focus on is the future.a future in which we need to consider the best interests of our children and show them we both love them and that we can be civil on Facebook or anywhere else. They deserve that. So right now I vow to stop the war of words on Facebook and I pray that we would stop making our private lives public. Let's remember that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It needs to end today. Please send only private messages from now on."

Carol McCarty said "I have to say Shellye didn't have affairs but you did!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Ask God to help your family make it with out the husband and father that you vowed before God that you'd be."

Mauri is absolutely beautiful! I've got to post a few pre-prom pics before we head out for pictures.

Mauri's leaving the house to get fixed up for prom.

Nails 4 U did Mauri's nails last year and this year.

Mrs. Sarah Alexander of Sarah's Hair Care has cut Mauri's hair since she was in 7th grade. She did an updo for Mauri's Junior Prom and did her hair today for her Senior Prom.

Ms. Nelda of Merle Norman at Benita's Florist did Mauri's make-up. That was a blessing because we didn't have an appointment but she worked us in. That was so kind of her. Mauri looks great!

Mauri is worn out already, bless her heart. She finally found a way to sleep on the couch without messing up her hair and make-up. I'll wake her in 10 minutes to get her in the dress and then she's on her way for picks at the admin bldg.'s pond in QC.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Today is the day I've been waiting for since last March when Siesta Momma informed us of the Scripture Memory Seista Extravaganza! I'm so excited. A little anxious due to the 24 Scripture I want to quote tonight from memory. This will be all the Scripture I memorized for last year along with a 1500+ Seistas.

I'm going with Paula and Kristie. I will have so much fun. We're meeting up with my sister's family at the hotel so we can celebrate the weekend with Kimmy too.

I am looking forward to what God has in store for me tonight. Bring it on God! I'm ready to grow with YOU!

Saturday, January 2, 2010

Here is what David and I have worked on today. Our bedroom actually looks like a quaint little hotel room. I love our home.

Can you see how much David enjoyed cleaning our room? Pic #1 is his true countenance until he knew I was posting the pics so he changed his attitude instantly to Pic #2....Isn't he great? He had to bust a move on our home today. I'm still not up to par so he had to do most of the work. However, Praise the LORD, I was able to do more housework as well as fold tons of laundry. I'm so glad it is behind us never to pile up on us again...hehe!

Friday, January 1, 2010

YAY! I made it to 2010. I'm looking forward to 2010 being a Jesus year. I'm glad I made it out of 2009 never to return to a lot of the lessons I learned. But willing to remember the lessons God taught me and brought me through in 2009. I don't ever want to have to learn those lessons over again.

All throughout today I want to focus on the future of what God desires for me. I really can't stand making resolutions that I will break by the end of the week if not by the end of the day, so I'll focus on goals for my life. God lead me to some great blogs yesterday that have helped me focus on some goals for now and my future. I think they'll help me clearly define what God desires for me this year.

1. Get healthier than I am today. I am not going to set a goal of how much weight I will lose because it hasn't worked my entire life so I'm not going there. However, I am going to live a healthier lifestyle. I was thinking about surprising David with the goal of walking with him so many times per week this year, but that was thrown out when I fell on November 18th and am not healed yet. I'll be healed in God's time and will start when I've been given the go ahead from my physical therapist and doctors. Due to PT yesterday, I have a few strengthening exercises which have already helped my leg so much in just one day. Praise the LORD! Actually this is more activity than I've done in months sad to say. Also, I'm going to make better choices in my eating. I know I will NOT eat the healthiest but I can do better and I will. We'll continue to buy better choices in groceries too.

2. Finish reading the Bible in its entirety. I began this last year. The NIV version that is in chronological order. I made it through pretty much faithfully until midway through July when my world began spinning out of control. I've picked it back up from time to time. I even tried to get myself to complete it or at least the New Testament over the holidays but I just couldn't due to the amount as well as my disappointment in myself because I didn't complete something I know God would have been pleased. Therefore, I'm glad I have a new year to complete what I began last year. I am going to start where I stopped and read it through until I accomplish reading the Bible through in its entirety. I've never done it but I am going to now.

3. Blog more. After all our struggles last year I just couldn't blog the way I wanted because everything was filtered through my pain and hurts. Now after the fog has lifted and God has provided growth in me yet once again, I'm ready to move on to blog about our family. It is so awesome to go through different things that I did blog about last year to see where my heart was and how I've grown through things. Also, it's incredible to see our lives in review. Furthermore, I'm excited to watch Mauri complete her senior year and Caleb begin driving. I have plenty to blog about and now I'm ready to move on to blog our lives to keep a record of our goings on.

4. Clean more and organize our home. I don't know why but I feel I'll never get a handle on these two things. It is always a work in progress. This past year our family has done much better at cleaning but we have so much further to go. I especially love a clean house but our home has never seem to keep itself clean. Of all things, we have to do the work and none of the four within this home ever seems to be enthusiastic about housework. My mother has always told me it isn't fun for anyone so just get up and get it done. I've got to consume myself with her advice this year; I must grow up, face the music, and do something every day! I actually do have a good excuse at this point in my life due to my injury and limitations which is driving me nuts as well as my poor family. But, I think God is truly using this time (only 43 days so far) to really show me the desire of my heart to keep things in an orderly fashion. So I hope and pray that God does a miraculous thing in my life and make me the housekeeper of our home as soon as I'm cleared for duty by my doc.

5. Become a better cook as well as cook more often. I want to continue to improve on how often we eat at home because it truly has been a blessing and has brought our fam closer together due to the time we spend together at mealtime. I also want to try to add more variety in our selections of choice. We get in a rut and just keeping cooking the same 'o same 'o. My problem with cooking is the cleaning that comes after because we are notorious for not cleaning immediatley.

6. Immerse my mind, body, and soul in the Word as well as in our home.

This was a goal of mine last year as well. I did Scripture memory with my siestas and have 24 selections of Scripture God gave me throughout 2009 which I'm still committing to complete memory without taking a peek while quoting. God did a wonderful work in me. He continually gave me Scripture for the moment as well as for future areas I'd go through during the entire year. I'm so glad I took the challenge not truly believing I'd finish it. I'm grateful God brought me through this year with more memory verses than ever before. I'm looking forward to the Beth Moore weekend at the end of January.

This past Thanksgiving I learned about a Jesus tree from a blog. (I love blogging!) We began our Jesus tree on December 1st and ended on Christmas night. It was hard to put that tree away until next year because the four of us learned so much by sharing our hearts each evening. I must admit we did miss a couple of nights but most the time the kids would remind us or have us do a make up session sometime througout the next day. I know we all grew closer to our LORD and Savior during this season. Jesus is the reason for the season and the Jesus tree helped us keep our focus on Him each and ever day during the CHRISTmas season this year. (Sidebar: Mauri won't be here next year for our Jesus tree if the Lord continues to send her off to college. But, we'll talk and share each night on the phone. We already talked about her having her own Jesus tree with her roommate next Christmas season.)

One thing my Christian counselor brought me through during November and December was "Who I am in Christ". It took me a while but I finally downloaded everything from my head to my heart and I know who I am in Christ which makes all the difference in the world for my life. She also helped me be delivered from the spirit of fear and the spirit of rejection. Now I don't filter everything that happens in my life nor every thought I have through fear nor rejection. Talk about a life of freedom. I'm not the same person I was before meeting her on October 20, 2009. "Who I am in Christ" is going to be what our family does each night during our "Jesus Time" the next 40 days or so. I'm going to type an outline per se today and begin this tonight with our family. This outline will have the Scripture reference only because I believe it is good for everyone to dig in the Scripture and read the Word for him/herself, the belief, and lines to journal what he/she believes the belief is saying. I might also add a box to check off when the belief is truly downloaded to the person's heart and a place for the date and time. This is what I did to truly become a believer of who I am in Christ and I want to share it with my family and eventually as God provides with friends, co-workers, and our church family.
I'm going to type out the 24 Scriptures God gave me last year and post them throughout our home. I'm also hoping our family will begin sharing Scripture God is pointing out to them at a particular time in their lives. I think this will help all of us be immersed in God's word and help us learn how to share God's Word with others.

7. and for the hardest of them all but trusting God to bring it to completion... getting rid of the spirit of judging, condemning, and criticizing.

I have a lot of work to do to align myself with God's desires for me as a Christian woman, a wife, a mom, a teacher, etc. I must allow God to work a miracle in my life in many areas this year. I'm sure one reason I haven't gotten completion in these goals in the past is that I have not because I ask not. I know God will answer my prayers and bring to fruition the desires of my heart if they and when they are aligned with Him. I must do God's work and I desire to continue growing beyond measure for Him and Him alone.

About Me

I am a wife to David and a mom to Mauri and Caleb. My husband and I met in junior high, became friends our junior year in high school, and began dating November 29, 1985 during our senior year. We were engaged July of 1989 in Glorietta, New Mexico and married on August 4, 1990. Our first born is Mauri who is a sophomore at Ouachita Baptist University. Our second child is our son, Caleb. He is a sophomore in high school who is the newest driver in our family. Our children are the highlights of our life. God has blessed us with two of the most God loving teenagers I know.